African ICT4D Youth Network

The African Youth Information and Communication Technologies for Development (ICT4D) Network – AYIN – is a pan-African and all-inclusive platform for African Youth input into the African Information Society agenda. With a vision of, “a networked generation of young Africans empowering themselves and contributing to the continent’s active participation in the Information Society”, the network is set to move youth inclusion to the next level, as far as the Information Society is concerned.

AYIN was launched on the 4th of February 2005 at the second African Regional meeting for the World Summit on the Information Society (Accra 2005), but the network is a product of time and efforts. Beginning with a fortunate crystallization of youth advocacy efforts which were later supported by the Economic Commission for Africa (through a mailing list), young Africans discussed their role and expectations around the Information Society.

These discussions led to the emergence of concrete proposals on the path to follow in order to move in the direction of progress. With the support of numerous organizations, youth gathered at Accra 2005 and came up with action-laden recommendations – including the setting up of the African Youth ICT4D Network through which they promised to lead action within the Information Society.

"The dramatic return of young Nigerians from Accra was a first challenge as we set out to implement the concept and plan of the African Youth ICT4D Network (AYIN) in Nigeria. Coming straight out of days of strong input into the AYIN formation process, young Nigerians were stopped from returning home to offload their passion for the cause of AYIN due to the death of the then Togolese president – and the closed West African state’s border. Returning home aboard an air force jet at the instance of the Federal Government and the Nigerian consulate in Accra (and with kind support from numerous individuals and quarters) was a great way to begin transforming the ills of the continent into celebrated opportunities.

Our first task was to reconvene a meeting of the Nigerian youth who were in Accra (especially those who were sponsored by the Heinrich Boll Foundation - HBF). On the 4th of March, 2005, we gathered in the conference room of HBF and discussed our role in Accra – the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the entire experience. We all agreed that it was an awesome opportunity to give wings to our desire of reversing the continent’s slide to irrelevance within the club of continents, especially in the New Economy. From every corner of Nigeria, we recalled our Information Society Soldiers for the meeting.

"At the March 4 meeting, ‘Gbenga Sesan made a presentation on, “Ripples from Lagos”, chronicling the Accra experience and contextualizing AYIN within the framework of Nigerian youth’s ICT4D engagements – including his experience at the second Preparatory Committee meeting of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). The interactive session threw up numerous issues such as discussions on our possible intervention with the role of ICTs in the Nigerian national census process, improving on the WSIS Policy Train, involving the right people, infrastructure and ideas for the Youth Network, advocacy for the establishment of Digital Villages/Mega cafes across the country (as PPP/MSP models), creating local and contextualized content within the Nigerian Information Society space by setting out with the Nigerian Youth ICT4D Network idea immediately (with "community" buy-in and multistakeholder support). We also discussed the need to go where the "people" are (identifying and engaging "action spots"), appropriate education of youth on virtuous Internet (and ICT) opportunities, and engaging government processes. The parley also highlighted the need to strengthen local initiatives, noting that local initiatives help create best-practice examples. We also recognized the need to stay engaged with the National Information and Communication Infrastructure (NICI) process in Nigeria.

"Our promise of staying engaged was not left hanging. We turned up in our numbers when the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) called a meeting of the stakeholders within Nigeria’s Internet community. The meeting was to conclude the resolution process for .ng – Nigeria’s Country Code/ Top Level Domain (ccTLD), an hitherto conflict-infested national resource that should serve as Nigeria’s eIndentity. One of us was nominated at the first meeting (which held over a year ago) to join 21 other ICT experts to form the Group of 22 (G22), saddled with the responsibility of leading the resolution process. On March 23, 2005, Nigeria outgrew controversy and established the Nigerian Internet Registration Association (NIRA) to manage the affairs of Nigeria’s .ng.

A few days after that we continued the Policy Train process in Enugu (South East, Nigeria). Hosted by a member of the youth network and facilitated by another member, that region of Nigeria celebrated a new form of Easter holidays as young people from various institutions and people-groups were treated to various flavours of Information Society involvement opportunities. The need for AYIN to have web presence was kicked off when a member of the network helped secure AYIN’s domain names – www.ayinetwork.org and www.reseauaji.org – both expressing our desire to bridge the language divide. Hosting was also provided by eNnova Media limited, a company operated by 2 young people within the network – along with their other associates. The constitution of AYIN was also reviewed and the process was led by a member of the network here in Nigeria – using ICT tools for feedback management.

"In Nigeria, we remain committed to the decade-long dream of extending the perimeter of the Information Society in Nigeria – and beyond. We remain committed to youth involvement within the process, along with other stakeholders."